Okay, so i've played flute for 6 years now, and just this christmas i got a clarinet. During the school year i was playing flute in band,but switched to clarinet halfway through the year, and would have to practice flute at home. So then summer rolls along and my hours of practice went way down. So i was practicing on clarinet one day and decided, "Hey i'll try my flute", so i picked it up and blew into it, Low and behold the sound was AWFUL! it was all airy and elementary sounding, i want to make it into a zero period band on flute when auditions roll around, but with my flute sound would be to horrible to do so, what are way to improve my sound. I know practicing helps but what should i focus on?

Okay, so i've played flute for 6 years now, and just this christmas i got a clarinet. During the school year i was playing flute in band,but switched to clarinet halfway through the year, and would have to practice flute at home. So then summer rolls along and my hours of practice went way down. So i was practicing on clarinet one day and decided, "Hey i'll try my flute", so i picked it up and blew into it, Low and behold the sound was AWFUL! it was all airy and elementary sounding, i want to make it into a zero period band on flute when auditions roll around, but with my flute sound would be to horrible to do so, what are way to improve my sound. I know practicing helps but what should i focus on?

focus on getting your flute embouchure back; long tones from low C chromatically up [ppp<fff>ppp]. Remember that flute and picc require much diaphragm support, so try and control your air power from there. You didn't mention whether you were playing an open hole or closed flute, but if it's open hole, concentrate on hand position, too. Now add saxophone and you can audition for the jazz ensemble, too.....

Before you ever check your embouchure, breath control, hand position, lip plate position, etc. you must check the flute itself. A leaky pad near the top of the instrument can make the whole instrument sound gross. Are all the pads sealing completely? If you're not sure how to check it, take it to a good repair shop.

You can make a simple feeler gauge to check it out. Take an old cassette tape you don't want any more and cut a piece of the tape off about an inch and a half long. Get a small piece of wood, like a match stick (cut off flammable end!) and glue the tape to the end of it, so it looks kind of like this. The zeros are the matchstick.

00000000000________

Now slip the tape under your pad at the top and press down lightly on the pad. If the tape slips out with no resistance, you have a leak there. Check every pad at the top, left, right and bottom.[/u]

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